The Baldwin Insurance Group, Inc.

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Baldwin Group second quarter 2024 earnings call. All participants are in listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press the star key and then zero on your telephone keypad. Please note that this event is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to the Executive Director of Investor Relations, Bonnie Bishop. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and welcome to the Baldwin Group's second quarter 2024 earnings call. Today's call is being recorded. Second quarter financial results, supplemental information, and Form 10-Q were issued earlier this afternoon. and are available on the company's website at ir.baldwin.com. Please note that remarks made today may include forward-looking statements subject to various assumptions, risks, and uncertainties. The company's actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such statements. For more detailed discussion, please refer to the note regarding forward-looking statements in the company's earning release and our most recent Form 10-Q, both of which are available on the Baldwin website. During the call today, the company may also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. For a more detailed discussion of these non-GAAP financial measures and historical reconciliation to the most closely comparable GAAP measures, please refer to the company's earnings release and supplemental information, both of which have been posted on the company's website at ir.baldwin.com. I will now turn the call over to Trevor Baldwin, Chief Executive Officer of the Baldwin Group.

Good afternoon. And thank you for joining us to discuss our second quarter results reported earlier this afternoon. I'm joined by Brad Hale, Chief Financial Officer, and Bonnie Bishop, Executive Director of Investor Relations. The second quarter saw exceptional results across the business, marked by a continuation of the broad-based revenue momentum, margin, and free cash flow expansion we generated in the first quarter. For the second quarter, we achieved organic revenue growth of 19%, up from 16% in the first quarter, driven by core commissions and fees growth of 23%, a testament to the strong underlying performance we are seeing in the business, led by continued outsized net new client wins. Year over year, adjusted EBITDA grew 22%. Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 130 basis points to 22%, and free cash flow grew 10% to 18.1 million. Excluding 13.6 million of one-time third-party refinancing costs incurred during the second quarter, free cash flow would have expanded 93% year-over-year. As a result of the work we have done to integrate our platform, we have immense operating leverage that will continue to be realized as we rapidly scale. Highlighted by year-to-date adjusted EBITDA margin accretion of 210 basis points to 25%, and free cash flow of 71.4 million, which is up 38% from the prior year period, or 64% excluding the impact of one-time third-party refinancing costs. Importantly, We now sit less than eight months away from satisfying almost all of our outstanding earn-out obligations and remain bullish on the substantial flexibility that materially improved free cash flow generation will afford us amidst an inflection of our financial profile. In IES, organic commissions and fees revenue growth came in at 10%. Overall organic revenue growth for the quarter was 8%. bringing the year-to-date total to 10%. Net new business momentum continued in the second quarter with sales velocity of 24% compared to 21% in the prior year quarter and client retention in excess of 90%. Year-over-year through the second quarter, new business is up over 60% on the back of investments and talent we've made over the last three years. growing momentum and impact from our industry practice groups and centers of excellence, as well as growing traction and awareness from our rebranding efforts. We would note that IS saw some timing-related contingent softness during the quarter, along with negative rate and exposure primarily emanating from our real estate portfolio clients, where they have absorbed years of significant rate increases, and we are starting to see early signs of a softening rate environment. Our UCTS segment had another outstanding quarter, delivering robust organic revenue growth of 37% and commissions and fees growth of 46% on the back of broad-based momentum across the MGA and growing contribution from Juniper Re, the reinsurance broker we launched last year, which had a very strong quarter and is gaining traction in the marketplace. Most notably, We're excited to announce that during the second quarter, the MGA surpassed $1 billion of in-force premium, marking a significant milestone as we continue to both rapidly grow our existing programs and launch new programs that offer tailored insurance solutions that meet the evolving insurance needs of our distribution partners and the more than 1.5 million insured policyholders we serve nationwide. while delivering profitable underwriting results to our insurance capacity providers. Our MIS segment showed continued strong momentum in the second quarter with organic revenue growth of 25%. Westwood continues to have success expanding its position as the preeminent provider of insurance distribution services to the new home builder channel, having signed up two new leading builders in the quarter. Westwood now works with 17 of the top 25 builders in the U.S. Our national mortgage and real estate operation in Charlotte is performing well, and in July set a new internal best for monthly new business premium. We're continuing to make progress on the embedded front and look forward to the future growth tailwinds that will generate for us. In summary, we are very pleased with our results for the second quarter and for the exciting opportunities that lie ahead for the Baldwin Group. Our largely completed integration work will increasingly enable us to leverage the full value of our talent and technology to drive continued industry-leading organic revenue growth and accelerating margin and free cash flow expansion. As we look ahead, our focus remains on delivering exceptional execution and innovative solutions to our clients. I want to express my gratitude to all of our colleagues across the Baldwin Group for their ongoing perseverance in an evolving insurance environment and their tireless work to protect the possible for our clients each and every day. With that, I'll turn it over to Brad, who will detail our financial results.